WSOP Event #29: Just to give you a heads-up...

It's seen by many as the purest form of poker: one to one; kill or be killed. Many excel in this format but others, perhaps unable or unwilling to invest in the necessary concentration and patience, can not cut it.

Team PokerStars Pro has many who belong to the "excel" camp, not least Vanessa Rousso, who finished runner-up in the NBC Heads-Up Championship in March, collecting $250,000. Dario Minieri is another, adept as he is in crushing the PokerStars high stakes heads-up games.

Vanessa Rousso

Both were in action for round one of this $10,000 World Championship Heads-Up No Limit, along with - and our first sighting of the Swede in the WSOP so far this year - William Thorson, ElkY, Greg Raymer, John Duthie, Peter Eastgate, Barry Greenstein, Gavin Griffin, Lex Veldhuis and JC Alvarado.

William Thorson

Greenstein's match was over quickly - he wanted to win or lose fast as he was getting to the bubble stage in the $1,500 Limit tournament he was still involved in. He lost. As did Eastgate, Griffin and JC Alvarado.

Peter Eastgate

Raymer had an interesting match-up with PokerStars player Isaac Haxton. Both knew much about each other's game after they finished second and third in the $40,000 No Limit event a few weeks back.

Raymer won through when his A-K won the race against Haxton's jacks. Also through (at time of writing) to round two, which begins later tonight, are Minieri and Rousso.